Quiet giant REpower seeks bigger slice of booming U.S. market - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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, a Portland-based subsidiary of German wind turbine-make REpower Systems AG, installed its firsy turbines on U.S. soil last year the 94 megawatt, 47-turbinse Goodnoe Hills Windfarm east of the Columbia Gorgewnear Goldendale, Wash. It was an auspicious U.S. debuf for the company, which has operated a Portland office since the endof 2007. “We’vw kept a fairly low profile,” said Steve CEO of REpower USA Corp. Now REpowerd — which reported $1.7 billion in revenu in its latest fiscalyear — has its focua on building business in the U.S., consideredc the world’s fastest-growing wind energy market.
In 2008, it installex 51 turbines totaling 102 megawatts of windenerg capacity, according to data from the Americaj Wind Energy Association, placing it ninth among By the end of its currengt fiscal year, it had installed 168 turbinesw with 336 megawatts. Its U.S. order backlot totaled 88 turbines at the end of itsfiscal “We’re definitely going to put in more wind machinexs this year,” Dayney said. But his declaration comes with a The red hot markeyt got derailed last fall by crumbling financial The demise of major players Bear Stearnd and Lehman Brothers left developers with a paucityy offinancial partners, resulting in a reduction in orders of wind turbines.
Matt Kaplan, a seniorr wind energy analystwith Cambridge, Mass.-baseed Emerging Energy Research, said developers have pushed turbine orders from 2009 to when the market is expected to “Nearly all of the major (original equipmenf manufacturers) in the market have been reporting they’rre receiving very few new Kaplan said. “That makes it difficult for a player to gain tractionn in themarket that’s relativelh new.” The slowdown has affectex the giants. Vestas hoped to break ground this year on anew 600,000-square-footf headquarters building in Portland, likely in the South But the weakened wind energy market temporarily put the brake on the plan.
REpower’s new majority ownership also brings up Indian wind turbine manufacturer SuzlonEnergy Ltd., the world’sw fifth-largest turbine-maker, earlier this month completed a deal to buy a 90.7 percent stake in REpower. Dayney declined to commen on the impact ofthe sale. Vivek Suzlon’s India-based head of corporate said Suzlon is considering various options to maximizee the benefits ofboth companies’ strengths, but has yet to decidw on an exact plan. Despite the Dayney sees signsof growth.